Blunders and misjudgments

You know, I don't think Andrew Cockburn likes the former US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld very much. The clue is in the title of his book - and also in some of the chapter headings, such as A Ruthless Little Bastard and Warlord. Indeed, the loathing and bile drip from pretty much every page, the tone a sort of quietly amazed revulsion at its subject matter. I suppose Rumsfeld: An Objective Study would have been a much less entertaining read - but I suspect it would come to pretty much the same conclusions as those reached by Cockburn. The Rumsfeld that emerges here is almost comically incompetent; shallow, ignorant, opportunistic and vicious, and possessed of an overindulged controlling tendency. He also reveals himself to be, at various times, rude, vindictive